2010 IDM/post-rock EP from Bradford, England. More of a glorified single than an EP, with everything centered around the title track, but hey, it's a good track!
My picks: "Heart Monitor," "Heart Monitor (her.eyes.like_static Remix)"
2015 instrumental hip hop EP from Grenoble, France. Jazzy chill hip hop.
Fun fact: while Céleste isn't inspired by the video game Celeste—the video game wouldn't start development for another four months!—L'indécis has participated in speedrunning Celeste!
2000 post-rock album from Toronto, Canada. Leans a bit more towards the Tortoise end of post-rock, with some more jazz influences, a strong synth presence, and horns on some tracks. "Bruce E Kinesis" almost sounds like a trip hop track.
My picks: "The Landlord Is Dead," "Bruce E Kinesis," "Goodbye Enemy Airship"
2021 minimalism/progressive electronic/third stream album consisting of one 46 minute peace split into 9 movements. A repeating piano/synth/harpsichord riff plays throughout as other layers come and go: Sanders' saxophone, synths, and the orchestra. Absolutely beautiful.
2011 experimental rock/math rock album from NYC. While difficult to follow up on the strength of Mirrored—especially after Tyondai Braxton's departure—Gloss Drop did a solid job of it. The guest vocalists are varied and great—particular a fan of "My Machines" with Gary Numan.
2020 "space jazz" album from Hanoi, Vietnam. Synths and drum machine with some very jazzy sax and flute over it. Once again, has nothing to do with the atrocity that L. Ron Hubbard called Space Jazz.
2019 indie folk/folk rock album from Brooklyn, New York. "Not" is the real standout of the album, a great folk rock song that builds up to a Neil Young–esque guitar solo. There's still much to like about the rest of the album, but if you only listen to one, that's where I'd point you.
2016 EDM/house EP from Stockholm, Sweden. 21 minutes of absolutely great music with a bit of a chiptune flavor to it, and some killer guitar on the first two tracks. Apparently at least two of the tracks are remixes of songs originally featured in Payday: The Heist.
My picks: "Hold on Tight," "Nemesis," "Interstellar"
2006 space rock/progressive electronic album from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Zombi is a bit of a love letter to Goblin—even the name comes from the Italian release of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, scored by Goblin. Blend in some Rush-influenced drumming and some Tangerine Dream, and you've got this album.
Or maybe
Tear it apart
Start with [the] assumption:
That a million people are smart
Smarter than one!
It's sad how much of this 1999 song is still relevant (basically all of it, aside from dated references like answering machines). Reminds me of Joan Jett's jacket from ~1981, with all of the pins on it like "keep abortion legal" that still feel timely. Follow this up with RATM and get angry enough to make changes
2010 post-rock album from Nashville, Tennessee. Leans into the chamber music influence harder than most post-rock, with a heavy string presence throughout. Compared to their debut, the band seems to have crafted a more unique sound, although this album does tend to sound a bit too homogeneous for its own good.
My picks: "Return to Us," "Sword and Shield," "From This Vantage"
1969 funk album from New Orleans, Louisiana. Early instrumental funk, kept fairly minimalist—guitar, bass, organ, and drums. Just a bunch of fun little jams.
My picks: "Here Comes the Meter Man," "Cardova," "Stormy"
2015 indie rock/post-punk EP from Croydon, England. A duo of frenetic drums and sharp guitar punctuated with incredibly depressed lyrics, spat out . This EP consists of tracks that were omitted from the only album they put out, and two demos of tracks on that album.
My picks: "The Kids from 'Fame,'" "Don't Try to Wake Me"
2007 symphonic metal album that covers the complete soundtracks of the first three Castlevania games. goat was active on OCRemix 2002-2007, putting out some great metal covers; he has no modern web presence, but his music is still up.
(YT playlist has 3 songs from OC Remix that aren't on the album.)
My picks: "Scourge of 1691," "Creeping Dusk," "Stained Glass Filth"
1983 punk rock/post-punk album from Portland, Oregon. Wipers went from the lengthy art punk of Youth of America to something that's a bit more pop punk, but still just as smartly put together.
My picks: "Over the Edge," "So Young," "The Lonely One"
2017 post-rock/noise rock EP from Lausanne, Switzerland. No, not "Monuments," nor the prog rock band from the UK, nor the doom metal band from Germany, nor the power/death metal band from Oklahoma, nor...
Okay, so there's too many bands named Monument. But this one has one of the guitarists from The Evpatoria Report! Good stuff.
1973 krautrock/jazz-rock album from Germany. Effectively a jazz-rock jam band with psych thrown into the mix. The tracks from the original vinyl release have plenty of great flute playing, swapped out for saxophone in the bonus tracks added for the CD release. The distorted sax sound on "Pap-Jack" is pretty wild.
2008 indie pop album from Boston, Massachusetts. A pretty uneven album, containing some of my favorite Lemon Demon songs, but also several forgettable or too gimmicky songs. Even if it's not as great as his later albums, there's still plenty of charm to it, and I'd still recommend it.
My picks: "Amnesia Was Her Name," "The Only House That's Not On Fire (Yet)," "The Machine," "Bill Watterson"